Sunday, November 28, 2021

Mrs. Spakausky's 4th Grade December 2021 Blog


 

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A Look Ahead:

Tuesday, December 7--Fall Picture Retakes

Tuesday, December 14--CCSD66 Board of Ed Meeting 7:00 PM

Monday, December 13-17-SPIRIT WEEK

Monday - Have an “Attitude of Gratitude” Day


Tuesday - Beat the chill with your favorite Hawaiian/Tropical shirt


Wednesday - Winter Hat/Flannel Day


Thursday - Cozy up to winter with your PJ’s and slippers


Friday - National Ugly Sweater Day


Friday, December 17-Holiday Parties

Monday, December 20-Friday, December 31--Winter Break

Monday, January 3--School Resumes

Monday, January 17--Martin Luther King Jr. Day--NO SCHOOL



Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) - Emotion Management

During December we will continue to discuss emotion management. We will discuss that when you have strong feelings, it's hard to think clearly and how unmanaged, strong emotions can lead to negative behavior and consequences. The objective is for students to be able to describe what triggers their own strong emotions and what happens in their brains and bodies when they experience strong emotions. In addition, we will learn about how to calm down when you are experiencing strong feelings.


Reading - Unit 1 - "Courage"

We have been learning about how Lou Gehrig has shown Courage. While studying this text, we will continue to hone our close reading skills and focus on identifying statements that are facts and statements that are opinions. Students will work in small groups to respond to text-dependent questions and there will also be vocabulary work. We have been practicing our extended responses (R.A.C.E.S.) with information from the text.  Students have to answer questions and cite evidence from the text to support their answer.

Students will complete the Lou Gehrig assessment with a RACES response in Formative.  They will be tested on vocabulary and comprehension.  This will be on Tuesday, Nov. 30th!

Students will also be learning about the skill of identifying text structure.  Writers use different structures to build their ideas. Each text structure communicates ideas in a different way.  Types of text structure are:

*Chronological order to explain how things happen in order.

*Compare and contrast

*Causes and effects-authors use words like cause, effect, as a result, consequently, and so

*Problem-Solution-   Sometimes, an author will want to explain a problem, and then show one or more solutions.

*Description-This text structure is used to describe a location, idea, or event.


.Social Studies - Midwest Region of the U.S.A.

We are leaving the Southeast and traveling to the central part of the United States.  The students will learn the states of the Midwest.  We will study chapter 8, "Water and Land of the Midwest"  in our social studies book.  The 3 lessons are as follows:

Lesson 1: "A Route to the Sea"

*We will learn about the Great Lakes and how they link the Midwest Region to the Gulf of Mexico and to the Atlantic Ocean.

Lesson 2: "The Badlands of South Dakota"

*We will focus on how erosion has shaped the South Dakota Badlands.

Lesson 3: "Bountiful Midwest Farms"

*The main idea in this lesson will be about how the Midwest is one of the world's leading farming regions.


Science - Energy Conversions

We are still doing our deep study of Blackouts and Ergstown.  We are interpreting weather reports to see what the best alternate energy source might be (solar panels or wind turbines) based on certain criteria.  

We will continue to gather evidence from our resource books and develop good arguments based on that evidence.

We will learn about system failures and reasons that failures may happen.  Students will make a functioning system and then find a way to cause it to fail.

We will finally be discussing solutions to Ergstown's Blackout problem.  We’ll consider possible solutions and how well each meets the criteria. We’ll also refer to the System Improvements Report.


Mrs. Spakausky's Math Class: Unit 2:  Multi-Digit Multiplication & Early Division

THE UNIT 2 TEST will be on WED. 12/1!

Module 1

Building Multiplication Arrays

Session 1 The Great Wall of Base Ten

Session 2 Unit 2 Pre-Assessment

Session 3 Metric Units of Linear & Area Measurement

Session 4 Multiplying by Ten

Session 5 Building Multiplication Arrays


Module 2

Arrays & Ratio Tables

Session 1 Sketching Multiplication Arrays

Session 2 Quick Sketches & Strategies

Session 3 Multiplying by Ten, One Hundred & One Thousand

Session 4 Building Ratio Tables

Session 5 Multiplying Single Digits by Multiples of Ten


Module 3

Multiplication Stories & Strategies

Session 1 Multiplication Story Problems

Session 2 Multiplication Story Problems

Session 3 Doubling & Halving

Session 4 Multiplying with Money& Units of Metric Measure

Session 5 Another Look at Multiplication Strategies


Module 4

Early Division with Remainders

Session 1 A Remainder of One

Session 2 What Can You Do with the Remainder?

Session 3 Remainders Win

Session 4 Multiplication & Division

Session 5 Unit 2 Post-Assessment


Unit 3 will be next!  Here is an overview of this unit!

Fractions & Decimals

In this unit your child will:

❚ Compare fractions with like and unlike

denominators

❚ Locate fractions on a number line

❚ Add and subtract fractions with like

and unlike denominators

❚ Identify equivalent fractions and decimals

❚ Compare decimal numbers

Spakausky's Scoop Oct. 16th

To see more pictures go to our Google Pic link; https://photos.app.goo.gl/GqsU1Pz2ytZoHicb6 SEL Update: There will not be a formal Second St...